Nineteen years after Mother Teresa’s death, Sister Fatima says she, along with others, always knew this day would come.
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A few minutes past 2 p.m. on Sunday, thousands gathered at Mother House here erupted in joy as Pope Francis at the Vatican declared Mother Teresa a saint.
He said Mother Teresa was not afraid to lock heads with leaders who Pope Francis said were to be blamed for “the crimes of poverty they themselves created”.
Mother Teresa, the diminutive Albanian nun whose work to feed the hungry and comfort the dying in India became the foundation of a new religious order and earned her a Nobel Peace Prize, was named a saint on Sunday by Pope Francis.
Apparently Queen Sofia of Spain was even a part of the crowd, which included hundreds of nuns from the sisterhood Teresa had started – and 1,500 homeless people that were treated to lunch at the Vatican afterwards! John Paul II was a personal friend and as the pope at the time of her death, he was responsible for her being beatified in 2003. “But when I prayed to Mother Teresa from my heart, Mother Teresa blessed me and now I am healthy”, Besra told CNN last week. Who knows better what that is like but mothers?
In an interview with VOA’s Mariama Diallo, Tukiçi said hearing that Mother Teresa was going to be a saint was a very special moment for him.
When the Litany of the Saints was read during the canonization ceremony, it was clear that over the centuries, the church had sainted far more men than women.
Now she is St. Teresa. He acknowledges Mother Teresa’s flaws, but believes her intentions were good.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia.
Her defenders have, of course, pushed back against the critics for years, saying they need to live their lives like Mother Teresa before criticizing her work. And some doctors claim Besra was healed by modern medicine, not by prayer.
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Though there has been some controversy surrounding her and all that she represents, this means an enormous amount to many, including the 30-year-old woman, Monica Besra, who claims to have been cured by praying to Saint Teresa.
